We live in a time in which food is down the block at the grocery store or perhaps only a phone call away. Because of this, it may be difficult to fully wrap our heads around the idea that at one point in history, food had to be fought for. While local Chinese restaurants may have to get competitive in order to pay the best price for meats and vegetables, it is safe to say that they do not have to hunt before delivering food to your doorstep.  The Lenape culture however, had no such luck. Instead, the Lenape people had to use various methods of hunting and gathering in order to provide enough food for their families. Many times, the natural environment had to be disturbed in order to obtain enough food to sustain their families and tribe.

Although the Lenape people were surrounded by and came into contact with many tribes who used sophisticated methods of agriculture, they stuck primarily to hunting and gathering. While they were less advanced compared to the people around them, it was enough for sustenance.  The Lenape quickly proved that they were able to “exploit the rich natural resources of the region.” Using bone and bird claw hooks as well as nets on sticks, the Lenape were able to fish in the lakes and rivers close by. Fishing usually yielded striped bass, sturgeon and herring. If there was a surplus of food, the seafood could be steamed which helped preserve the food until wintertime, when fresh game may be lacking. The Lenape people also survived on hunting small animals such as swans, pigeons, geese, turkeys and partridges.  While deer and bear were continuously hunted despite seasons, autumn was an especially popular time to hunt. During this season, two to three hundred Lenape people would perform “deer drives,” in which the forest was lit on fire in order to lure deer into premade traps and snares. These deer drives provided the Lenape with enough meat to last them through the winter.

These practices beg the question of how much harm the Lenape caused the natural environment in order to hunt. At first I thought that burning the forest immensely destroyed the environment. After doing some more research I learned that controlled fire can actually help the natural environment rather than harm it, like I had originally thought. The Lenape used fire for many different purposes. Fire was used to clear fields, control weeds and burn woodland undergrowth. This actually helped to “prevent growth of underbrush, encourage growth of grasses and improved the soil.”  While the Lenape people may not have understood the scientific benefits of burning the land, their actions proved to promote the growth of the natural environment.